Imperio - Unforgivable or Not

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 176998

--- "eggplant107" <eggplant107 at ...> wrote:
> ...
> 
> One last thing, I think a lot of people get hung up 
> over the Unforgivable Curses because of the name, 
> but remember who gave them that unflattering name, 
> the Ministry of Magic, and the Ministry isn't exactly
> the master of morality.
>  
>  Eggplant
>

bboyminn:

I'm inclined to agree with you on this point. Far too
many people are taking 'Unforgivable' as absolutely
and unrelentingly Literal.

In general I would agree that these curses are
Unforgivable, but what is /general/, and what is
specific is quite different. Murder is generally
unforgivable, but there are some circumstances in 
which killing someone is understandable and even
legally forgivable, and in some circumstances even
desirable.

As I've said many times before - Context is Everything. 

I see this in other areas as well. There is a discussion
going on about the nature of Dark Magic, and it is 
based in what I consider a casual comment by JKR that
curse, hexes, and jinxes are 'dark'. But people rarely
speak in absolutes. Further people are adding context
to the question and to the answer that are not 
necessarily there. 

The questioner may have been asking JKR for a clear
and precise definition of 'Dark Magic' but JKR may
have responded on the broad and general nature of 
dark magic.

I have said many time before that there is Dark Magic
and then there is dark magic, the two not necessarily
being the same. 

The books seem to make it clear that there is a 
specific type of magic that is classified as Dark. What
makes it so, we can only guess. But that seems to 
contradict JKR's reply that hexes, curses, and jinxes
are dark. I think she was merely implying that they 
are dark-ish. 

I have speculated in the past that there is something
in the Creation of magic, rather than it's use, that
makes it clearly and definitively Dark. 

In summary, I think we do ourselves a disservice if 
we take JKR's statements outside the books, and 
character and narrator statements inside the book as
absolutely literal. People rarely speak in absolutes. 
I think at best these statement can be considered an
aspect of the subject under discussion, but never an
absolute all-defining statement. Context must always
be considered, even when it is not understood.

For what it's worth.

Steve/bboyminn